


We Can't Rewind (but we can choose where we go from here)

by Hana (steppingstone)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Inspired by Life Is Strange, Rewind Powers (Life Is Strange), Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-02 10:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15794442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steppingstone/pseuds/Hana
Summary: In Seattle, Regina has a vision depicting Storybrooke's destruction. Events slip beyond her control as she uses her newfound powers to try and save Emma and the town. A riff on the plot of Life is Strange.





	We Can't Rewind (but we can choose where we go from here)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pinkshiori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkshiori/gifts), [MissMayhem13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMayhem13/gifts), [super_nerdy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/super_nerdy/gifts).



> This fic is set towards the end of season 7 but it diverges from the show's storyline. If you haven't watched season 7 don't worry, it doesn't make any more sense to those who have, so just roll with it!
> 
> Thank you so much to the organisers of SQ Supernova. This has been such a joy to take part in.
> 
> Thank you also to all those who read and checked my work. @MissMayhem13 and @Laura_p_g, you rock. @Super_nerdy - thank you so much for all the time you spent reading this and giving feedback. Let's also take a moment to thank @pinkshiori, who knows English better than native speakers and repeatedly saves us from my convoluted sentences.
> 
> @Laura_p_g is the artist matched to this fic. When this is revealed I will try and link her accompanying artwork!
> 
> \- - - - 
> 
> Here's some mental health related content notes that are a bit spoilery. Please read or skip as you wish.
> 
>  
> 
> *A minor, original character experiences depression and takes her own life before the events of this story.  
> *A main character finds her body - but the suicide itself and the method used are not depicted.

Regina watched, helpless as the storm ripped through Storybrooke. The scenes of a car being flung into Emma’s house were so vivid that her heart was racing when she woke, slumped on a stool at the bar.

It had been no ordinary dream. The details were too clear. Too precise. She reached for her cell so she could check the east coast weather report but knocked her glass over in the process.

“Shit,” she said, as water soaked through all of the invoices she’d been sorting through that morning.

The glass rolled towards the edge of the bar. She reached out in a futile attempt to catch it but it smashed on the floor. A strange vibration shot through her arm and the pieces jumped back up, reformed, and rolled back across the bar as one whole glass again. Spilled water flowed back in as it righted itself.

“What the-”

She looked around the bar to see if anything else had been affected, but everything within Roni’s red brick walls remained the same.

Zelena walked in from the back room and stood opposite her behind the counter. Regina offered a meek smile of acknowledgement. In return Zelena leaned in close and yelled good morning.

Regina grimaced. “Can you not,” she mumbled. Her head was pounding.

“I didn’t realise you had that much to drink last night.”

Regina hadn’t been keeping track. She had just wanted to forget the fact that her loved ones were still cursed. That she was merely Roni to them, local bar owner and friend rather than Regina, family. And there had been some new customers last night. One even had long blonde hair like-

“Here,” Zelena said, pushing the glass of water closer. “Get that down the hatch you idiot.”

Regina drank it in one, then took a photo, thinking she might need to recall the time and date it had smashed and reformed later. 

“So?” Zelana asked, nodding towards her cell. “You gonna call them?”

One of her customers had been flirting with her last night. The latest in a long line of people who had handed out their number. “So I can endure another short relationship that turns to dust because my heart isn’t in it?” 

“I see your levels of optimism remain high.”

“Did you notice anything weird just now?” Regina asked, steering the conversation on to more important things than her love life. Or rather lack of one.

Her sister shook her head.

“I need to go back to Storybrooke for a few days.”

Zelena’s expression sobered. “Have you gone bonkers?”

“I know the priority is to find a way to break the curse without Henry getting hurt, but something’s come up. I have to do this.” She stood ready to go upstairs and pack.

“You’ve gone absolutely bonkers.”

“I must get it from my big sister,” she shot back. 

“Won’t I already be there?” Zelena asked. 

“I’ll avoid you,” Regina said. “And I’ll explain everything later. Could you just keep an eye on the bar while I’m gone?”

Zelena nodded.

“Good, and if Henry starts getting too close to Jacinda send him to a fake job interview in New York or something.”

She had just reached the doorway when Zelena threw a packet of pills at her. “Don’t forget your aspirin,” she called, loud enough to make Regina wince in pain again. Regina heard her sister cackle as she walked upstairs.

 

At the airport she pushed past the line to the restroom and slung her carry on bag in the sink so she could apply her makeup. She had no idea what had caused her dream. Or vision. Whatever it was, she knew instinctively that it was a warning of some kind. And despite their cursed situation in Seattle she would not stand by without doing anything.

She leaned forward to check the application of her eyeliner and rested her hand on what she thought was the faucet in order to steady herself. To her frustration she accidentally pushed the on-button instead. Water spewed onto her bag.

“Oh for goodness sake,” she muttered, whisking it out of the sink. But she was too late. Her photos were already ruined.

She did not have much from her previous life. It made no sense to take modern day keepsakes into the alternate Enchanted Forest when she joined Henry there and decided to stay. But she did have a few shots of her family which she had stumbled upon in the basement of Roni’s after she had regained her memories. And now they were soaked through.

The vibration in her fingers returned so she held her hand over the facet, fingers outstretched as though she were turning a large, invisible dial. She looked behind her to check that no one was watching and began to twist her hand. The first few times yielded no result but on the third attempt the edges of her vision blurred as the water was sucked back up from her bag.

She yanked her hand back in shock. A woman who had walked behind her when she accidentally leaned on the faucet was now walking past again. No one in the room seemed to have noticed that time had just been rewound. Yet this wasn’t magic. It didn’t feel the same. It was more like a superpower from one of Henry’s comic books. She finished applying her makeup. She had to get to her gate right now but would look into it later.

 

That evening she parked her rental car outside her house and used magic to let herself inside. Whilst the air smelt stale she was pleased to discover it wasn’t too dusty. The most recent curse had taken her and Henry back in time. It had been over 9 years since she was last here. However the residents of Storybrooke had waved her goodbye just under a year ago. She worked out the dates and calculated that Emma would be living with a 6 month old. 

Regina's footsteps echoed as she wandered from room to room at a complete loss of what to do. It was her home yet so much felt unfamiliar. There were things she didn't remember owning and objects in places she didn’t remember leaving them. Inevitably she made her way to Henry’s bedroom. She pulled a shirt from his closet and breathed in his smell. Its small size made her smile. Not just from the flood of happy memories it brought back but at how laughable it seemed now that his broad shoulders could have ever fit inside.

Her cell beeped. She replied to Zelena and told her she had arrived safely. 

It was too lonely to stay home any longer and after a day’s travel her muscles were in need of use, so she walked down Main Street taking in the familiar sights and store signs. There was nothing to indicate the town was in any danger as it had been in her dream. Just a poster about a missing hiker stapled to all of the telegraph poles. In the photo the women was wearing a red, checked flannel shirt and had leather bangles on her wrists. One of the bangles had a little silver anchor attached to it. She had last been seen in Storybrooke in April, five months ago.

She crossed the street and walked past the library. The door swung out, pushed open by a woman leaning back against it.

“Emma,” Regina breathed. She fought the grin on her face from spreading too wide. “It’s good to see you.”

She couldn’t help but look around for the pirate but thankfully he wasn’t in sight. Perhaps he was at home with their baby? It hit her then how many conversations she had tried to block out over the years. Whenever Hook and Emma had jumped realms to pay them a visit he never stopped talking about everything they did together. Walks in the park. Trips to play groups. What their daughter was doing at school. Regina had always made excuses to duck out of the room rather than endure his smitten smile a second longer. Emma often looked like she wanted to join her.

There was so much to say, yet Regina had no idea where to start. She hadn’t expected to run into Emma this evening. She wasn’t prepared for this. She stumbled over the words. “You’re...out late,” she said, despite the fact that it was barely after nine. That was all her brain managed to come up with.

Emma’s body language appeared warm and relaxed but she was frowning slightly, as though she were an actor trying to recall the script. “As are you,” she pointed out. 

Regina wanted to move closer and squeeze her shoulder. To feel that Emma really was right in front of her and not just a vivid figment of her imagination. The former mayor shook her head in disbelief, “You have no idea how much I have to fill you in on.”

Emma smiled and gestured through the open door. “Then you’d better come in.”

Regina had no idea what Emma was doing in the library but followed her to the elevator anyway. In the clock tower the doors parted and revealed two deckchairs by the clock face, lit by a string of fairy lights. They climbed the metal stairs to the upper level. 

Photos of Henry and photos of a baby were stuck to the wall by one of the chairs. As were the remains of some tape where it looked like one picture had been hurriedly torn down. Regina reached out and stroked the cheek of the baby. She had never seen her this small. The first time Emma and Hook had visited the alternate Enchanted Forest with her was when she was about 12 months. In Regina’s time she was now 9 years old. 

Emma put her hands in her pockets. “Yeah that’s Hope. She’s 6 months.”

“Oh Emma, she’s beautiful.” Yet hearing that four letter word again caused old questions to resurface, because people who are happy in life do not bestow that kind of name on their child.

“I know right,” Emma said.

“And that’s despite being half Hook,” Regina smirked, unable to resist a dig.

“Well I see your attempts at humor haven’t changed,” Emma said, “but what’s with the new outfit? You look like you run a rock bar or something.” She gestured for Regina to take a seat.

“Well it’s funny you should say that,” Regina began.

Emma pulled out a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses. It was Roni’s favourite choice of liquor. How did she know? Regina immediately felt jealous of Emma’s usual choice of hideout companion. She wondered who usually got the second glass. At least she wasn’t offering any rum.

Regina explained about the most recent curse that took them from the alternate Enchanted Forest to Seattle. That Henry had married Jacinda and had a daughter named Lucy. And how they couldn't break the curse by simply getting Henry and Jacinda to kiss as it would kill him. She rested her boot on the edge of Emma’s deck chair as she spoke. Emma regarded her new mannerism with interest. Regina wondered what Emma thought of this new version of her and whether she liked it. 

“You have an 8 year old granddaughter,” Emma said, taking a swig from her glass. “Hell I have an 8 year old granddaughter,” she grimaced. “It’s barely been a year.”

“That’s time travel for you,” Regina sighed. 

“And what is my life like, in the future?” Emma asked. She busied herself with screwing the lid back on the whiskey bottle as though it were more interesting than Regina’s answer.

The glass in the clock face cracked. Regina jumped up in case it shattered. “What the hell was that?” The vibrations hummed in her hand again.

“It’s alright, it does that,” Emma said, rushing the explanation. “You were saying?”

“How about I fill you in later,” Regina deflected. She waved her hand and used magic to repair the crack, delighting in its convenience. She had missed it in Hyperion Heights. “I’m sure you’ve already had more than enough information to take in for one night. How about we head home?”

Emma’s expression darkened. “Sure,” she said, faking a smile in agreement. They downed their remaining whiskey and rode the elevator back in a silence too painful to bear.

They stepped out into the library. “So that’s why you’ve come back, huh,” Emma asked without quite making eye contact. “You need help breaking the curse.”

“Yes,” Regina said, conveniently leaving out the rest. She didn’t want to burden her with any talk of visions until she had found out more. Although that suddenly didn’t seem to matter much once she noticed how crestfallen Emma looked after hearing her answer.

Regina took a few steps forward and paused. She knew she shouldn’t do it. Turning back time broke all kinds of moral codes. But it wouldn’t be much. Just a few seconds. It wouldn’t change anything Emma had said. She would just make sure she wasn’t so sad when they left. She held her fingers open as though on an invisible dial again and turned.

Regina felt a pull on her body, walking her back into the space it had just occupied. She stopped right after she heard a garbled version of the question Emma had just asked. “You need help breaking the curse,” she said again.

“Well, yes,” Regina agreed. The power of being able to re-write past mistakes started to make her feel giddy. She could re-do every conversation until it went perfectly. She could live a life without any more regrets. “But it’s good to see you too.” Ok, so still not quite the whole truth but it was more than last time. 

Emma let out a breath. “Would you like to meet Hope tomorrow?” She paused whilst she figured something out. “No wait, you already know her.” Poor Emma looked very confused.

“I would love to see her again, yes,” Regina smiled.

Emma beamed. They headed towards the main doors. “Then I’ll text you when we’re both up.”

Regina frowned. “You and Hook?” she asked.

“No, me and Hope.”

“Oh.”

They stepped out onto the sidewalk and into a gentle snowfall.

“Oh,” Regina said again, stunned by the sudden change in the weather.

For the first time this evening Emma looked genuinely surprised. “That’s never happened before,” she mumbled. “How is this even possible? It’s too hot.”

They both looked up in awe at the beauty of snow against dark sky. She knew she shouldn’t, but she reached out to rest a hand on Emma’s arm anyway, unable to keep her touch to herself any longer. It was only to help keep her balance, she told herself. Just while they were staring up into the night.

 

The following morning Regina woke with her iPad still in her hands. She must have fallen asleep in bed halfway through reading an article.

Her cell beeped with a message from Emma telling her to meet her at Granny’s. She checked the time and was frustrated to discover it was 10am already. Whilst Roni normally slept in to compensate for the late nights behind the bar, Regina had wanted to be up with plenty of time to get ready this morning.

As she hurried to the bathroom a thought occurred to her. She put her hand into position again and turned. Her body was pulled backwards and she retraced her steps back to the bedroom and into bed. She kept twisting her hand as she watched the hands on the alarm clock spin round. At 9am she stopped.

“Alright, that was the last time,” she promised to her empty house. “No more superpower until you know what’s causing it.” Magic always came with a price. Superpowers probably did too.

The next time her cell beeped she was dressed and ready, so she immediately went over to Granny’s.

“No sign of snow today,” Regina said, after greeting Emma and sliding into the booth opposite her.

“Yeah, it’s like it never happened.”

After Emma wiped the remains of breakfast off Hope’s face she stood and placed her daughter into Regina’s arms. Regina bit her lip to contain the emotions that washed over her. This new life still felt like one of her own. Just like the first time she had ever held her. “Oh, Emma,” she sighed, “she’s perfect.”

“Well I did make her myself,” Emma joked.

Almost immediately Hope began searching for things to grab hold of. Regina was thankful her curse haircut meant her hair was short enough to be out of reach. She pulled off her necktie so Hope could play with it. “Bet you have a lot of fun running after this one,” Regina grinned. At 6 months she was probably rolling around and shuffling into all kinds of mischief.

“Freezing her with magic before she pulls something on top of herself is proving to be very useful,” Emma admitted. “But don’t tell my mom I do that.”

Regina heard the pitter patter of water drops against the windows. She turned her head and was astonished to find that the street outside had been wrecked beyond recognition. The shop fronts were completely destroyed and what was left of the seating area outside was now several inches underwater. The wind howled.

She woke up with a start. Emma was bent over her, one arm round her shoulders and one supporting her daughter in Regina’s arms.

“You alright there?” Emma asked.

Regina’s head was pounding. “Yes I, the weather, it’s gone crazy again I-.”

The look on Emma’s face stopped her mid sentence. The Sheriff took Hope and sat back down again. Regina looked through the window and saw the world just as it should be. She missed Emma’s touch on her skin already.

“What’s going on?” Emma asked.

She was hesitant to reveal what she had just seen but knew she couldn’t lie about it. Not this time. She explained everything about the visions.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this last night?”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” Regina shrugged. And she had been so elated to see her again and so flustered at being caught unprepared. And yes, maybe she had wanted some ‘normal’ time with Emma before introducing anything crazy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think anything would happen while I was still conscious. I would never have taken Hope if I’d- ”

“I know,” Emma interrupted. “And you’re ok?” she checked.

Regina was cheered by Emma’s concern for her well-being. “I’m fine now, thank you.”

“Any idea what’s causing this?”

Regina shook her head. “I tried reading up on it last night online but didn’t discover anything.”

“This probably has-” they both began, “something to do with the snow,” they finished, smiling at how they had both spoken in unison. 

But Emma’s attention was ripped away from her as she spotted something across the room. “Back in a second,” she said.

Regina watched as she walked across the diner and spoke to a man sat at one of the tables. They were just out of earshot but Regina saw Emma point to a leather bracelet he was wearing. It looked familiar. So she pulled out her cell and typed “Storybrooke missing hiker” into her browser. Sure enough, there it was on the missing woman’s wrist. Her name was Rachel.

She put her phone away when Emma came back over. “Do you mind ordering to go?” Emma asked. “There’s something I need to do.”

 

They stopped at a picnic table on a trail through the forest. Regina’s necktie was now serving as a makeshift bib for the baby.

“What are you glaring at Swan?”

“You eat differently now.”

Regina suddenly felt self-conscious. She put down what little was left of her burger. “Are you going to tell me why you’ve dragged me out here or must I remain utterly clueless?” she huffed. She asked what the man in Granny’s had to do with the missing hiker.

“He didn’t know the bracelet was hers,” Emma explained. “He said he found it on the old rail tracks.”

“But if she’s been missing since Spring then you must have searched here already. You’re not that useless.” 

Emma threw a fry at her. Regina stifled a smirk.

“I’m hoping you’ll spot something I missed,” Emma said.

“And a locator spell on the bracelet wouldn’t work because...”

“They actually belong to her ex-boyfriend. She swiped them from his dorm room the night he dumped her.”

“Ah.”

Once they’d eaten and cleaned up, Emma put Hope back in the sling and they set off along the trail. Emma stepped up onto the metal part of the rails, walking with her arms outstretched to keep her balanced.

Regina took a few steps ahead then turned so she was walking backwards in front of Emma. She looked tired, as all new mothers do, but still beautiful. Especially when lit by the afternoon sun. 

Regina slipped on something and fell backwards. She hit the ground with a thump. She was about to turn back time a few seconds again to save her dignity when she caught sight of something small and black, lodged in a branch above. She used magic to float it towards them and then stood and dusted herself down. Emma took hold of it through an unused sandwich bag to avoid any contamination of potential evidence.

Emma opened the wallet up through the sandwich bag and showed a driving license to let Regina know it had belonged to the missing hiker. “You did it,” Emma grinned, and cast a locator spell.

The wallet didn’t move. Emma looked at Regina, puzzled. “Maybe this didn’t belong to her either,” Emma guessed. 

But Regina knew that Emma was aware of the other reason the spell might not be working. After all it was one of the things she had taught Emma herself; the item’s owner had to be drawing breath in order for it to work. Panic washed over her.

“Did you know her?” Regina asked.

“No, nothing like that,” Emma reassured.

But something still didn’t seem right. “Then why does it mean so much for you to find her?”

Emma shoved the wallet into her bag. “Who wouldn’t want a young woman to be alright?” 

Regina kept looking at her until Emma finally made eye contact again. 

“I don’t know, maybe I just need a happy ending or something.”

Regina recalled the time when Emma and Hook had announced their pregnancy. How they had stepped through the portal back to Storybrooke with large smiles on their faces and hands entwined. At the time she had pushed her own unease about the situation aside and put it down to the fact that she had always wanted someone better for Emma than Hook. But then that day Emma's smile never did quite reach her eyes. Maybe her gut feelings had been right? She touched the wedding ring on Emma’s finger and nodded towards Hope. “Don't you already have one?” 

Emma gave her a sad smile. “Of course I do.” She paused and scuffed her boot in the dirt. “Anyway we’ve found what we’re looking for so let’s head back, alright.”

 

Seeing as Regina was unable to think of any passable excuse to stay with Emma any longer she headed back to Mifflin Street alone. She began reading about visions and freak weather phenomenon again but was distracted by a detail she remembered about Rachel’s bracelet, the silver anchor. She Googled its symbolism. There were the obvious results: stability, strength, security. Weathering through a storm. And then there were some deeper, more subtle meanings such as moving on from a tumultuous past. Or always having a safe place to go back to. 

And then there was also one meaning that she would never have thought of herself, being in tune with who you are and holding on to the values you believe in. 

There was a deafening crash.

Regina looked up and found herself sitting in a different home. The windows had been broken and debris was being whipped around the room. The house groaned under the strain of the storm.

She remembered that in her first vision she had seen a boat being flung into the second story of a house. Emma’s house. So she pulled herself up onto her feet and staggered up the stairs. She looked into the rooms one after the other until she saw a body poking out from under the rubble. She could just about hear a baby wailing through the roar of the wind.

She dropped to her knees and crawled over. “Emma!” she yelled, pulling debris off her. She grabbed hold of a muddied arm and placed her fingers at the wrist to take a pulse. Nothing. As the storm continued a tear dripped down her cheek. “Emma, don’t do this to me. Not now. I’ve just come back for you. I need you.”

Emma’s body remained unresponsive.

“Emma,” she cried.

The roof of the house caved in.

 

Regina woke up in a state of panic. Again, every detail had seemed so real. She lay on the couch with her feet raised in order to steady her breathing. A few minutes later she pressed number 2 on speed dial. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Emma said. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt your evening, but is it alright if I come over?”

To her dismay Emma hesitated. “I’m sorry, now isn’t a good time.”

“Please,” Regina said, hating how desperate she must sound. “You know I wouldn’t ask unless it was urgent.”

Emma sighed. Regina heard the sounds of footsteps on wood. Hope babbled some nonsense. “Are you at the docks?” Regina said. She used magic to transport herself there in a heartbeat.

Emma spun round, caught off guard. “What the hell are you doing?”

Regina realised they were standing in front of Hook’s ship right next to...Hook. She had clearly interrupted something. She cleared her throat. 

“Sorry I wasn’t thinking.”

She looked between them both. Hook was incredibly tense and Emma’s eyes were puffy and red from crying. “What on Earth is going on?”

“Funny you should ask,” Emma said. “That’s just what I’m trying to find out from this douche bag.”

Regina took a couple of passport sized pictures from Emma’s hand. They showed two images of Hook and Rachel making stupid faces in a photo booth. Her eyes widened in shock.

She made some guesses based on what she had already encountered. Emma had a secret drinking place to get away. She hadn’t invited Regina round to the house, and she had only meant her and Hope when referring to the two of them being up and ready. Then there was that so-called happy ending...

“You two have split up.” She felt saddened because she had wanted Emma to be happy. And confused because when she first met Hope her parents had been together. Had they reconciled? Were they together for Hope’s sake to avoid breaking up a family? 

“Well I wouldn’t go that far,” Hook said. “We’re just taking a break whilst we sort things through, isn’t that right, love?”

“Yeah well it’s going to be a pretty permanent one now the truth has come out,” Emma spat.

Hope began crying. Regina gestured for Emma to pass her over. She kissed the smooth skin on her forehead before taking a few steps back and bobbing her up and down in her arms. 

“I told you I don’t know where she is,” Hook said. “I just had dinner with her once, that’s all.”

“You bastard.”

“Nothing else happened! I was lonely. She was someone new to talk to when my wife didn’t want me around.”

“You cheated on me.”

“Never.”

Regina became aware of how dark it had become. She looked up at the early evening sun. The moon was slowly crossing its path, blocking out the last strands of daylight. Regina froze in shock. If an eclipse had been forecast she would have heard about it. It meant this went beyond freak storms and random snowfalls. This was, what? An alternate reality? The result of changing the past? She had no idea what was going on.

Darkness fell. Hope whimpered. Regina held her tighter. “Don’t worry dear, it’ll be alright,” she whispered.

Hook tried to put an arm around Emma but she shrugged him off and came to stand next to Regina instead. Neither of them needed to tell the other they were afraid. They stood so close their sides brushed against each other. After a few minutes the sun began peeking around the other side of the moon, but those few hundred seconds seemed to last an hour.

 

After a fitful night’s sleep Regina went to check on Emma the following morning. She caught her just as she was leaving. 

“He should be at work by now,” Emma said, putting Hope into the car seat. Like Regina, she tried to avoid using magic for normal day to day things. Walking down that path led to a slippery slope of addiction. “I’m going to search the ship.”

Regina regularly thought many unpleasant things about Hook. But she didn’t doubt how much he thought he loved Emma. And a reformed murderer knew another reformed murderer when they saw one. But Emma wouldn’t listen.

When they arrived Emma blasted the door to below decks open. She rummaged among the storage chests until she found the two remaining passport sized photos from the strip tucked away in a notebook. Regina wondered how Emma was able to track them down so quickly. She handed them over. In one Rachel was kissing his cheek.

“No, there must be an explanation.” Regina said, shifting Hope onto her other hip.

Emma looked betrayed. “Why are you siding with him on this?”

“I think your impartiality has affected your ability to see clearly.”

Emma’s hand twitched. She ordered Regina to leave. 

 

So the former mayor paid a visit to the Charmings. Once the shock of seeing her wore off and the questions about why she was here from the future without Henry had been answered, Snow asked if she’d seen Emma yet. 

Her words stung. “Long story,” Regina said. “She’s probably arguing with Hook.” She explained how Emma had found some photos of him and Rachel among his belongings. 

“And you left her alone?” Charming said. 

Regina did not like his accusatory tone. “She asked me to!” 

The heart-sharers exchanged a look. Charming stood and grabbed his keys. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s see if we can track her down.”

Hopefully with Charming there Emma wouldn’t ask her to leave again. If nothing else she still needed to pass on a warning about what she had seen in her most recent dream. She had no idea whether her visions were literally going to become real but if they did, telling her about this latest development could well save her life.

They found Hook and Emma at the sheriff’s station. They waited in the corridor as they heard the jail cell door slam shut followed by the angry back and forth of an argument. Emma stormed out but stopped, stunned, when she saw them. She glared at Regina and stomped outside. 

“I’ll go after her,” said Charming. 

Regina went in to speak to Hook.

“You know prisoner safety isn’t very high on the agenda round here,” Hook said, leaning casually against the cell bars. “They keep leaving the inmates by themselves. Who’ll release us in time if there’s an emergency?”

Speaking of which, Regina made flames in her hands. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t burn you.”

He held his hands up in defense. “I am not responsible for Rachel’s disappearance.”

“I know.” Hook looked astonished that she believed him. “So tell me what you do know. Your lies are hurting Emma far more than the truth ever will.”

He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

“She’s already lost to you,” Regina gently pointed out. “I know you already know that, when you can bear to face it.”

“Emma’s my happy ending,” he said.

“But you aren’t hers.” 

Hook rested his head against the bars. Slowly he began to open up. “Alright, yes Rachel and I took photos that night after dinner. We’d had a bit to drink. It was a spur of the moment thing. And the day after when Emma didn’t let me visit her and Hope again we went for a hike. We followed the old rail tracks to the lookout point.”

Regina narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “But you said that nothing happ-”

“And nothing did!” he interrupted. "She was broke. She was estranged from her family. I let her crash in a spare cabin to save her renting a room at Granny’s. It was a mistake to spend so much time with her. I know that now. She took it as a sign I was interested.” He twisted the ring round on his finger. “She asked me out later when we got back to Storybrooke. Naturally I declined but she was upset. More than someone usually gets when they’re turned down.” 

“So where did you last see her?” Regina asked.

“Well that’s the thing, the day of the hike she walked back with me to my ship, collected her backpack, and that was it.”

Regina shook her head in disgust at him.

“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t look at me like that. I tried to call her the following day to see if she was alright but there was no answer. I thought she’d left town. When it turned out that she’d never been seen again outside of Storybrooke I was the one to lead all the search parties.” His voice cracked. “I’ve always wanted her to be alright. I never turned a blind eye.”

“Quite.” 

He briefly started whining about the failings of his marriage but Regina held up her hand to silence him. “That’s Emma’s story to tell me, if she wants to.”

Hook began pacing in his cell. “I wish I could go back. I wouldn’t have spent any time with her. I wouldn’t have given her any false hope.”

But Regina had no time for his regret. She had more than enough of her own. Nine years in fact to lament Hook and Emma’s return to Storybrooke. It was true that she had been unable to leave Henry at the time, but why hadn’t she tried to convince Emma to stay?

“So if you believe I’m innocent are you going to let me out then?” Hook asked.

“Fat chance,” she smirked, and walked out. 

 

Regina used magic to transport herself back to where they had found the wallet. With her newfound knowledge she tried to figure out what everyone had missed. Why had no one been able to find Rachel? She wandered up the old rail tracks towards the lookout spot Hook had mentioned.

It was beautiful up there, with stunning views of the lighthouse further up the coast. At first she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. But once the breeze picked up she felt the presence of magic in the wind. Away from the clearing to her right there was a broken memorial bench. Abandoned when its wooden slats cracked and there was nothing stable to sit on any more. She walked over to it. The air surrounding it had a very pure, light, quality she couldn’t quite place. She held her hand in the air until it snagged on some kind of protection spell and waved her hand to make it fade. A body wearing a red, checked shirt came into view. 

Regina gagged from the smell. She hurried backwards to get away from it and sunk down onto the grass, heartbroken. “Oh Rachel,” she whispered. “You poor girl.” She had taken her own life.

She pulled out her cellphone and called Charming. Now that she’d found Rachel she didn’t want to leave the young woman alone. “I’m at the lookout point, not far from the old rail tracks,” Regina said. “Get a group to come to our location with a body bag.” Tears choked her next words. “We need to get her home.”

 

Towards the end of the afternoon a crowd had gathered at Granny’s to lay flowers and light candles in front of Rachel’s photograph. Everyone was speaking in hushed voices to share their own thoughts and theories on what was being dubbed as the “missing hiker suicide”. Regina kept her distance. She was only there to see whether Emma was also in the crowd as she still wasn’t answering her cell. She also had to avoid running into her sister. Specks of rain fell onto the side walk. 

Regina thought that after hearing the sad news Emma would retreat to her hideout. She wandered up towards the library which was, like many other places right now, closed because of the vigil. She took the elevator up to the clock tower and found Emma drinking on one of the deck chairs. Anger and grief radiated off her.

“There is no avoiding you today is there,” she laughed. The sound was bitter and hollow. Regina thought she was being a little over-dramatic. This was only the third time she’d seen her today and she had given her space at the docks and the sheriff’s station rather than chasing after her.

Regina took a few steps closer. “I’m so sorry about Rachel,” she said.

“All that time we never found her.”

“She’d stolen a spell to conceal herself,” Regina gently reminded her. “No one could have imagined an outsider would manage to learn about magic. How was anyone to know?” 

Emma shook her head as though to keep Regina’s comfort at bay.

“You were at home with a brand new baby," Regina continued. "If you’d been part of the main search party at the time you would have felt the magic in the air and found her but Emma,” her voice broke again when she said the words, “it would have still been too late.” 

“I wish I could go back and change what happened,” Emma said. She took another swig. “Her poor family. Her friends. The word devastated doesn’t even begin to do justice to what they must be going through right now.” Emma wiped her eyes. Her voice quivered when she spoke. “They would have spent all this time hoping for good news and now this. It’s just awful.”

Regina sat on the free deckchair and gently eased the whiskey bottle out of Emma’s hand. 

“I know she must have been going through a rough time,” Emma continued with a sniff. “I guess she felt things would never get any better. But she was wrong. She was so young. She had time. She had a chance.”

Regina’s heart rate increased when she realised their conversation was now about more than just Rachel. She leaned forward and placed a hand on Emma’s knee. “So do you,” she iterated.

She caught sight of something on the floor nestled between Emma’s deckchair and the stone wall. She moved to pick it up. It was a photo of her taken during Henry’s graduation trip. She had not been aware of its existence. In the shot she was looking away from the camera. Why had Emma stuck that to the wall?

She looked back at her friend in order to see how she was doing. She looked more composed now. “I’m sorry about all of that,” Emma said. “I guess I just needed to get it all out of my system. It won’t happen again.”

Regina was about to reassure her. To tell her that it was fine if she wanted to talk. But she saw Emma raise her right hand and spread her fingers, as though she were about to turn an imaginary dial.

“No,” she gasped, stunned. She scrambled to grab Emma’s hand. “Don’t you dare.” 

She succeeded in distracting Emma long enough to turn back time herself. The familiar tug on her limbs took her down to the ground floor of the library and she let time continue from there. 

Her head was pounding again. She began to pace the room. She had not seen this coming. Her shortsightedness had been astounding. She would never have imagined that someone else could develop this strange power too. It meant she no longer had the upper hand. She was horrified to realise she never did. How much had been rewound and rewritten without her knowing? This changed everything. 

She returned to the clock tower. It was time for take two. Emma was sitting in her deck chair again, drinking. Just as she had been when Regina had first walked in. Anger burned within her. How many times had Emma re-wound and manipulated her without her knowing? Had any of their conversations been genuine?

“Don’t you dare move your hand,” she hissed. “I know you can rewind time. How often have you done this to me?” 

Emma jumped up in shock. Regina saw her lift her hand again so she rewound time herself first until she was back inside the elevator once more. This was going to be tricky. The second Emma didn’t like what was happening she would erase it and try again. Regina tried to push all her anger to one side when the doors pinged open a third time. She stepped out and took a deep breath. The clock face cracked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Emma said, taking a swig of her drink. “It does that.” 

“When someone rewinds time too often, perhaps?” Regina said. 

Emma stood up slowly and leaned on the railings. “It didn’t do it the first dozen or so times,” she revealed. She narrowed her eyes as she considered the sight below her. “But how do you know about that?” 

Regina waved her hand and used magic to fix the broken glass. “I’m here to call a truce.” 

“Have we been fighting?” 

“I think we have, in a way, without realising it.” She held up her hands in surrender. “So how about it, I’m honest with you. You’re honest with me. And neither of us re-winds this conversation. Again,” she added.

“You can do it too?” Emma said, eyes wide with shock.

“How can I trust you?” Regina asked. From what she had worked out, Emma had rewound time a lot more than she had.

“Since when?” 

“Get down here and tell me we’ve got a deal.” 

“What do you want,” Emma scoffed, “for us to link little fingers?”

Regina had them do exactly that. “Pinky promise,” she announced.

Thunder rumbled outside and reminded Regina of the message she needed to relay. “Remember I had a vision of a storm flinging a car into your house,” she said. “Well I had another one, only this time I found your body inside.” 

“You think it’s actually going to happen?” Emma asked.

“I won’t let it.” 

“I’ve been having visions too,” Emma confessed. “Similar to yours. They started the morning of the day you came to Storybrooke. I saw you driving madly through the streets in a storm. In another I saw us in Hook’s ship looking for something.”

Regina balled her fists and dug her nails into her palms, straining to hold on to her patience. “It would have been nice of you to tell me all of this.” 

Emma folded her arms and glared pointedly.

“But then I didn’t tell you I could rewind time either,” Regina conceded, “so I’m hardly one to complain now, am I?” 

“No.”

Regina did not like the idea of Emma drinking here, alone. She managed to convince her to leave the clock tower and join her in lighting a candle for Rachel. They spent the elevator ride comparing powers. 

“Do you feel a vibration in your arm and hand?” Emma asked. 

Regina nodded. “Yes, and did yours take a few tries to get it working in the beginning?”

“No, that’s never happened. Time’s always flowed really easily for me.”

“Oh.” Despite feeling a little jealous that Emma mastered it straight from the get-go Regina thought nothing more of her answer. A grin soon crept across her face. “What’s the stupidest thing you’ve rewound time for?” 

“Hope threw up on me.” 

“It’s not a bad idea to skip that,” Regina pointed out.

“Alright, I couldn’t be bothered to fetch my drink from the kitchen,” she admitted. So I rewound time and brought it with me on the second go.”

“Emma!” 

The doors opened. They passed through the library and back out on the street. As they walked over to Granny’s more spots of rain landed on the sidewalk. Thunder rumbled once more. 

Outside the diner Archie tapped Regina on the arm and asked her to conjure up an extra supply of candles for people to light. “The boxes are over here,” he explained, leading her towards a table. She brushed off his questions about her sudden appearance and was soon roped in to helping him sell them. All proceeds would go towards a suicide prevention charity. She searched for Emma in the crowd. 

“Oh hey, Snow!” she called out upon seeing her. “Where is your daughter? I can’t seem to find her.”

“She got a call from her sitter,” Snow replied. “Apparently someone let Hook out of his jail cell and he’s trying to take Hope back to to his ship for the night.” 

There was more thunder. This time so loud it seemed to split the town. A car pulled up across the road and Regina ran over and demanded the driver hand his keys over. “It’s an emergency!” she shouted. It started raining. She broke the speed limit in her haste to reach Emma’s house and turned the windscreen wipers on to their fastest setting.

She screeched to a halt opposite the driveway and jumped out. The wind had picked up so much she struggled to get the car door shut. This was utterly ridiculous. Less than an hour earlier it had been a perfect, sunny day. Where had this storm come from? 

She raced up to front door and yanked it open. “Emma,” Regina yelled. “Get out!”

Emma dashed towards her clutching the baby against her chest. “It’s alright, the others have gone now. I was just getting Hope ready to go,” she shouted back. 

“Over here” Regina shouted, gesturing towards the car. 

Emma used magic to whisk them both to Regina’s vault. 

“No magic in Hyperion Heights,” Regina mumbled, smoothing down her vintage band t-shirt in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. “I keep forgetting I can use it.” She took a few minutes to catch her breath and look around. They should be safe here. It was buried deep into the rock. But she needed to see what supplies were available to hand. Perhaps there were items in the vault that could help them. As she began her search she saw a lot of things that didn’t belong. Some of the clothes she used to wear in Storybrooke. Fresh pillows and blankets on the cot she used to share with Robin. Emma sat there now, cuddling Hope and telling her that everything was going to be alright. 

The two of them could outlast a storm down here but what about everyone else? “Emma, we have to go back in time and warn everyone.” She stepped over to the cot and reached for Emma’s hand. “Can we rewind together?” But when they tried the gears of time kept jamming and sticking. Despite using all of their combined strength they couldn’t push past the first few seconds of the past. 

“Sorry,” Regina said, and raised her hand with her fingers outstretched again. She rewound enough to take her back to Emma’s house, but then lost her rhythm and had to start the process again in order to take her the rest of the way. She traveled back through the vigil outside of Granny’s and into the library elevator once more. 

“Do you feel a vibration in your arm and hand?” Emma asked. She immediately saw the change of expression on Regina’s face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Have you ever had it where you come off track when you’re rewinding and have do it multiple times to go back?” 

Emma shook her head. “What’s just happened?” 

“I had to rewind again.”

Emma straightened her body and stepped closer. “You promised-”

Regina interrupted, “I know. And I’m sorry. But the storm from my vision - it’s coming. It’s probably already here. We have to tell everybody to seek shelter.” 

They raced over to the vigil and shouted for everyone to take cover in the basement of their homes. Emma called the fire station and ordered them to sound the emergency siren across town. 

Regina had just finished helping some elderly townsfolk down the basement stairs in Granny's when she realised she’d lost track of Emma again. She ran out into the downpour and spotted a parked car down the road. Luckily for her the keys had been left tucked under the driver’s sun visor. She raced towards Emma’s street and arrived just in time to watch a car whizz through the air and smash into the side of her house. 

All the energy drained from her body. She barely managed to stop the car and put the handbrake on. “No,” she whispered. She checked the time on her phone. This wasn’t right. Events were happening sooner than they had done previously. She should have at least another half hour. She held out a hand in front of her and stretched her fingers. It was hard to get the right grip. Her hand kept slipping. Eventually she managed to rewind to a moment earlier in the afternoon, just before she’d left Hook in the sheriff’s station. 

“So if you believe I’m innocent are you going to let me out then?” Hook asked.

“Fat chance,” she smirked, and walked out. It felt just as satisfying to say it the second time round. 

Or at least it did until Emma ran back in with Charming. Both of them were soaked through to the skin.

“You will not believe how windy it’s gotten out there,” Charming laughed, bemused by the sudden change in weather.

Regina raised a hand and rubbed her forehead. “This isn’t right.” Tears pricked her eyes. “It’s too early.” Charming and Emma exchanged a look of confusion. She asked Emma to collect Hope then go straight to her vault. Then she told Charming to sound the town’s emergency siren and make sure his own family was safely in the nearest basement.

She paced the floor of her vault until Emma showed up. 

“It would be alright if we could fit the whole town in here,” Regina said once she’d arrived. “Everyone would survive. The trouble is we have evacuation procedures in case of storms and flooding but Storybrooke isn’t in hurricane alley. No one’s basement is built to withstand this.”

“You can turn back time too,” Emma said, dumbfounded. 

“Sit down and look after Hope, would you.” Regina’s head was pounding. 

The following few hours allowed plenty of time for her to bring Emma up to speed. And when it sounded like the storm was over they opened the door to the surface and poked their heads out. All of the trees surrounding the vault had been flattened. She transported them both to Main Street so they could look round. They found themselves knee deep in muddied water. A few bodies floated nearby. They pulled their t-shirts up over their noses to cover the smell.

The town had been flattened. Vehicles, trees, utility poles, had all been uprooted and scattered across the landscape. Many of the buildings had caved inwards. The best case scenario Regina could imagine was that a handful of other people had survived. She whisked them both back to the vault using her magic.

“We have to go back,” Emma said. Her tears had left wet tracks down her cheeks. “My family was out there. We have to fix this.” 

“Every time we go back it strengthens the storm and makes it happen earlier,” Regina reminded her. “It won’t buy us any more time.”

Emma raised her hand and spread her fingers. Regina put a hand over hers. “Let me do it Emma,” she pleaded.

Emma held Hope tighter. “So you’re the one who’s in control?” she accused. 

“Well, I can’t deny that plays a part,” Regina agreed. “But it’s mostly so that you won’t have to remember anything we’ve just witnessed.” She had seen many grim scenes in her time, villages of dead bodies included. She didn’t want Emma to have to carry that burden. 

So she took them further. To the morning and just before she and Emma went to Hook’s ship. Yet the storm crept ever backwards through time and followed them. Regina once again found herself waiting out the storm in her vault. She began searching through all of her possessions again in the hopes of finding something she’d missed the first time. “What is some of my clothing doing down here anyway?” she asked.

“So you can turn back time too,” Emma said, dumbfounded. 

“Oh, not this again,” she sighed. 

They sat tight, eating snacks from Emma’s bag and playing with Hope to make the hours pass by. This time the storm raged on for longer that it ever had done before. Eventually Hope was left to sleep in a little nest made out of the bedding. Regina ran out of things to re-explain. 

She thought about how some objects in her kitchen were not in places where she usually left them. 

“Have you been going into my house?” she wondered out loud. 

Emma cleared her throat. “I was just making sure everything was alright.”

“Why bother,” Regina scoffed, “it’s not like I ever -” She tried to catch her words in time but had already revealed too much. She winced. 

“Not ever?” Emma asked, suddenly on edge. “You never come back to live here?” She part raised her hand again before remembering her promise. “Why not?” 

She might as well be honest. Revealing the cards closest to her chest could hardly be worse than their current predicament. She took a deep breath. “I found the first few times you and Hook came to visit with Hope...difficult. But it was my issue. Not your problem to deal with. So I found reasons to stay out of the way so you could enjoy time alone with Henry." She looked down at her hands. "Over time something changed. I, I stopped coming to Storybrooke. So did Henry once he started chasing after Jacinda. So you began to visit less and less.”

Emma drew her knees up to chest. “Just like that?” 

“I guess so.” 

“No, there has to be more to it than that.” 

Regina could see what she meant. It seemed ridiculous to have fought monsters, raised a child together, and pulled each other from darkness only to be separated by an awkwardness neither of them could overcome. 

Emma scrambled to make up a more plausible reason. “Well...I guess I would have...been busy with Hope.”

And Hook, Regina added, silently. She rested her head back against the wall and closed her eyes so she could breathe through the pain. It had been dulled over time. Covered up with newer, happier moments in life. Even when she had regained her memories in Seattle it hadn’t been so bad. The city was, in some respects, still a world away. But sitting next to Emma in the past brought it all back. 

“Do you think being able to rewind time is connected to anything?” Emma asked. 

Regina looked over, curious. “Like what?” 

“Well we’ve both rewound when we want to do things differently...” she hinted.

Regina humored her, despite not wanting to hear some soppy answer about how Emma regretted her break up with Hook. Regina felt it was for the best but knew Emma might not necessarily believe that. “When you first discovered you could rewind time, what were you thinking about?” she asked. 

Emma stood up, agitated. “If the only outcome to this is that the town gets destroyed then why are we still here?” she demanded.

Because Regina had not been ready to go back yet. She had selfishly wanted more of Emma, cruelly using time with her that wasn’t hers to take. It was a violation. She’d entered the vault knowing she would go back again and Emma wouldn’t remember. A blush of shame warmed her cheeks. 

Realisation dawned on Emma’s face. “We have to go back, don’t we?” 

Regina nodded sadly. 

“Right back to the beginning.” 

“Yes, we do.”

“So who’s gonna do it?” 

It had not occurred to her until that moment that Emma might be the one to rewind. The shock of it made her draw fast, shallow breaths. She dug her nails into her arm to hide all other signs of emotion. Regina’s powers weren’t as strong. If what Emma had said about them being linked to regret was correct, then perhaps that was why. Hers had been numbed over time. It wasn’t until she’d seen the blonde in the bar that her feelings had been set into motion again. 

It was not fair. 

All the time spent with Emma would soon be erased. The joy of teasing her and making her laugh. Of seeing her balance on old rail tracks. The way her arm had been wrapped around her in the diner. They were all such precious moments. They were the closest she would ever be to Emma and they were all she had. 

“From what you’ve explained, it sounds like I have a better command of rewinding than you do," Emma said. "So it would be more likely to work if I’m the one to take us back. Then you won’t remember and if I still have any powers I’ll know never to use them again.” She unwrapped a granola bar and took a large bite out of it for energy. “Shall we get it over and done with?” Emma asked. “I guess there’s no point being trapped in a vault when we don’t have to be.” 

Regina could barely play along. “Right,” she choked out, her breathes still shallow.

“And there’s nothing else you need to tell me about all of this?” Emma checked. She raised her hand and stretched out her fingers. 

Regina held up her hand. “Wait, please. Just give me a moment.” She stood and walked into one of the other stone rooms. She leaned her forearms against the wall and rested her forehead against them. She desperately ran every spell, every artifact through her mind in the hopes of recalling something that would allow her to hold on to her memory. Why had she told Emma that she had struggled with rewinding time? She could have put forward the case that she could take them back to the start otherwise. It left her with just one choice. She stepped back and began to stretch out her fingers, still facing the wall. 

“I thought we had promised not to do that,” Emma interrupted. Regina let her hand drop to her side. “Or at least that’s what you said anyway. What the hell are you doing?”

“Rewind, Emma,” she ordered.

“But I thought you wanted me to-”

“Just do it!” she pleaded. She couldn’t bear it any longer. Yet instead of doing as she was told Emma closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around her from behind. Regina tried to shake her off but she wouldn’t let go. 

“I’m sorry we can’t both go back,” Emma said.

“You had better find me in Seattle.” Regina sniffed to keep the tears at bay. “Otherwise I will kill you.” 

She felt Emma laugh and turned round to face her, slowly so that Emma would still keep her hands on her. 

“And once I’ve found you, then what?” Emma asked, her voice barely a whisper. She shifted her gaze to the side, unable to look at Regina whilst she waited for the answer. 

“Why did you have a photo of me stuck to the wall in the clock tower?” 

Emma let out a laugh as though in pain. 

“Come on,” Regina urged. “You can tell me now.” She struggled to get the rest of the words out. "Because I won’t remember.” 

“I was full of regret,” Emma replied. She rubbed her hands slowly up and down Regina’s forearms. It caused her to shiver. “I made the wrong choice in coming back to Storybrooke," she said, re-establishing eye contact. "I didn’t even ask if you wanted me to stay. I was such an idiot. And now it’s too late.”

Regina tilted her chin up and moved forward until their lips touched. Now there was even more she wouldn’t remember. The loss engulfed her to the point where she could barely stand up. She pulled Emma towards her so that her body would hold her against the wall.

“When you find me, tell me about the anchor and what it symbolises,” Regina said. Hopefully it would prompt her past self to step forward and seize what she wanted.

“You’re really weird sometimes, you know that?” 

But Regina did not have the energy to smile. So Emma took her hand and they laced fingers. Regina gripped on tight. “The longer we wait the worse this timeline is gonna get,” Emma gently reminded. She cupped Regina’s cheek with her other palm and smudged a tear to the side with her thumb. “You ready to go back?” 

Regina stole another kiss, leaned back, then decided to move forwards again for one more. “Promise that you’ll call me in Seattle," she pleaded. "You can Google the name of the bar to find the number. It will be so easy to speak to me." 

“I will.”

“Don’t let any stupid thoughts talk you out of it.”

“I won’t.” 

“I’m not asking you to do anything you don’t want to, just make contact with me.”

“I know.” 

Regina braced herself for what would happen next. “Then go.” 

Without breaking her gaze Emma pulled her hand away from Regina’s and held it in position, ready to rewind time. She kept her other hand on Regina’s cheek. “You'll see me soon”, she said.

 

 

Regina woke slumped on a stool at the bar. Her mouth was dry and her head was pounding. She reached for her glass but instead managed to knock it over.

“Shit,” she said. Water soaked through all of the invoices she’d been sorting through that morning.

The glass rolled towards the edge of bar. She reached out in a futile attempt to catch it but it smashed on the floor. “Fuck.”

Zelena walked in from the back room and stood opposite her behind the counter. Regina offered a meek smile of acknowledgement. In return Zelena leaned in close and yelled good morning. She spotted the wet paperwork and peered over the bar until she caught sight of the pieces of glass on the floor. 

“It’s times like this you really wish you had magic, isn’t it?”

Regina grimaced. “Can you not,” she mumbled. “My head is too sore for your sarcasm.”

“I didn’t realise you had that much to drink last night.”

Regina hadn’t been keeping track. She had just wanted to forget the fact her loved ones were still cursed. That she was merely Roni to them, local bar owner and friend rather than Regina, family. And there had been some new customers last night. One even had long blonde hair like-

“Here,” Zelena said, after fetching her a new drink. “Get that down the hatch you idiot.” She picked up a dustpan and brush from under the counter and walked round to sweep up the glass. 

Regina heard the front door to the bar being opened. 

“So?” Zelana asked, nodding towards her cell. “You gonna call that sexy customer who was chatting you up last night?”

Regina called out to the person who had just come in, “We don’t open until 12!” She turned and saw the sheriff of Storybrooke walking towards her. “Emma,” she breathed. 

Zelena’s mouth hung open in shock. “Bloody hell what are you doing here?” she said.

Their visitor looked around the red brick walls and took in the music memorabilia.

Regina felt panicked. “Is everything alright? No one in Storybrooke has been hurt, have they?”

“Oh, sorry,” Emma smiled. “Should have said that before you had time to get worried. Still getting used to this version of you, that’s all. Just thought I would stop by and try and catch you before you opened up.”

There was so much to say yet Regina had no idea where to start. She wasn’t prepared for this in the slightest. She stumbled over the words. “How did you erm, how did you know that we would be here?” she asked. 

Emma’s body language seemed excited yet tense, as though she were an actor pushed on stage without a chance to read the script. “You have no idea how much I have to fill you in on,” she grinned. 

Regina wanted to move closer and squeeze her shoulder. To feel that Emma really was right in front of her and not just a vivid figment of her imagination. The former mayor shook her head in disbelief. “Well, then, let me run upstairs and freshen up. Then I can take you for coffee and a beignet.” 

She turned to Zelena before departing, “Don’t you dare let her leave.” 

She had just reached the doorway when her sister threw a packet of pills at her. “Don’t forget your aspirin,” she called, loud enough to make Regina wince in pain again. Regina heard Zelena cackle as she hurried up the stairs. She rushed to change, clean her teeth, and apply makeup. She tried not to worry about what her sister was saying to Emma whilst she was out of the room.

 

They returned to Roni’s once they had finished their coffees and took a seat on one of the sofas. Regina couldn’t help but stare at the woman in front of her. She was different to the Emma she remembered. It no longer looked like life was weighing her down. 

“So we both had visions of Storybrooke being destroyed,” Regina said, playing with a whiskey bottle in her hands. 

“Uh-huh.”

“And those visions started to come true because somehow, it was connected to our new found powers to rewind time whenever we wanted. Which in turn manifested itself from our regrets and desires to go back in life and make different choices.” 

“That’s right.” 

“And the only way to stop it was to rewind time to the point where it all began. Which is when you walked in the bar. But only one person could rewind at a time. Which is why I don’t remember anything.” 

Emma nodded. Regina sighed. 

“That’s time travel for you,” Emma smirked. 

Regina had the feeling that Emma was repeating those words from something. She hated not having control over any of this. “And what else did we talk about, in the future?” Regina asked. She busied herself with unscrewing the lid of the bottle, as though it were more interesting than Emma’s answer.

Emma pulled out a leather bangle with a little silver anchor attached. “You told me to remind you of this.”

“I’ve never seen it before.” 

“It belonged to Rachel.”

“The young woman you were talking about earlier? The one who killed herself?” 

“Except she didn’t,” Emma beamed. “Not any more. I managed to use the momentum of traveling back in time to go faster and faster until I catapulted myself back to April. We managed to intervene in time. She’s currently staying with a friend in Boston while she starts over.” 

“Well that’s great, I’m glad she’s alright,” Regina shrugged. None of this meant anything to her. She didn’t know the girl. Or why Emma was really here. She excused herself to go to the restroom. 

She checked her phone while she was on the toilet. She played with the idea of texting the customer she met last night but decided to look up what an anchor symbolised instead, which was many things but most of all – hope. She deleted the customer's number.

Emma was standing by the bar when she came back out, fidgeting with a drinks coaster. 

“You know the five months I’ve had to wait for this moment has been really long.” She took a hold of Regina’s forearm, leaned forward, and pressed her lips against her mouth. 

Regina pulled back in shock. “To borrow an expression from my dear sister, have you gone absolutely bonkers?” 

“No. I made a mistake in going back to Storybrooke. Now I'm here to get my life back on track.”

Regina stumbled towards a bar stool and sat down to let the meaning of Emma’s words sink in. What she was implying, well it couldn’t be real. It was too good to be real. “But we live on opposite sides of the country,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, and?” Emma shrugged.

“You have a 6 month old baby. And a job in Storybrooke. Where you live with the rest of your family.”

“So?” 

“I can’t leave until we find a way to break the curse without killing Henry.” 

“We'll figure it out.” Emma took both of Regina's hands in hers. “Because we still have a chance. You taught me that.” 

Again Regina had no idea what Emma was talking about but she was grateful for whatever the alternate version of herself had done. She pressed her knees against the sides of Emma’s body and kissed her back. She sighed with pleasure as she felt Emma’s hands on her waist and in her hair. 

“Let’s not waste any more time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Feedback means the world to writers so please do leave a comment! 
> 
> Every time you comment on a fic a kitten is born and Emma and Regina kiss.


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